The first Engage Breakfast of 2013, organized by Leadership Austin, brought together four panelists Jan. 15 to discuss job growth in Austin and Central Texas.

"Austin is an economic hot spot as a place for both business and a place where people want to be," said Tamara Atkinson, deputy executive director with Workforce Solutions Capital Area Workforce Board.

Atkinson said that in November 2012, the region had a 4.4 percent annual job growth rate, adding more than 35,000 new jobs in the past 12 months.

Ray Almgren, vice president of product marketing core platforms with National Instruments, said there are a few factors that contribute to the health of Austin's job market, including the availability of higher education in Central Texas and Austin's culture.

"Our community is also a fantastic place. People love to come to Austin to start their careers," Almgren said. "It's such a great mix of culture and diversity and opportunity. That's a great asset for us when we're recruiting."

Gary Farmer, chairman of both the Greater Austin Economic Development Corp. and Opportunity Austin, said enjoyment of the culture that Austin has to offer starts with the area's job market.

"Our belief is that quality of life begins with a job," Farmer said. "Anyone in this community without a job cannot fully engage in the economy and cannot fully engage in the community."

Although there often is a focus on the technology industry when the topic of job growth is discussed, Hall Martin, director of Texas Entrepreneur Network, said there are a variety other business types in the Austin job market such as the video game industry, the health care industry and the consumer packaged goods industry that are also doing well.

"People look at the startup community and look at it as one monolithic community, but really it's comprised of about 12 different subcommunities," Martin said. "A lot of the other groups in that don't always get as much play as the technology groups. People look at the technology sector and that represents the startup community, and while that's what I would call the biggest tribe out there, there are others that are fast-growing and offer job opportunities."

One of the challenges with the growing job market is adapting to the changing education and skill set needs the market requires. Atkinson said there are 100,000 individuals in the community that lack a GED certificate, and that number is expected to double in the next 20 years.

"As we have diversified our economy, which is a good thing overall, it has unfortunately widened the gap between the workers that we are growing and raising here in our community and the skills that are required," Atkinson said.

At the end of the discussion, panelists pushed for job-seekers to research the market, be patient and be creative when looking to answer the needs of the community.

"My advice would be to read the headlines about all the problems that exist out there and realize that you can fix those things," Almgren said. "It just seems like there is insurmountable opportunity when you read the headlines and all the things that needs to be fixed."

The next Engage Breakfast Series is scheduled for Feb. 5, and the expected topic of discussion will be education. For more information, visit www.leadershipaustin.org/programs/engage.